Sufficiency digest #17
4 May 2026
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CROSS-CUTTING & THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
Alexander-Haw, A. (2026). Living Within Limits: Sufficiency and the Pursuit of Low-Carbon Lifestyles [Doctoral thesis, Utrecht University]. https://research-portal.uu.nl/en/publications/living-within-limits-sufficiency-and-the-pursuit-of-low-carbon-li/
This thesis addresses the main research question: How can sufficiency-oriented lifestyles contribute to climate change mitigation while safeguarding well-being and ensuring broad societal acceptance? The results demonstrate that sufficiency can be empirically and conceptually distinguished from deprivation. Individuals with higher sufficiency orientation had lower carbon footprints in the transport, food, and electricity domains, independent of income or deprivation. In contrast, energy conservation in the housing sector was often related to necessity rather than value-driven moderation. The analysis also found that well-being does not increase or decrease linearly with energy use; high and low energy consumers both reported relatively high life satisfaction. This suggests that low-impact lifestyles can support well-being but that their realisation depends strongly on material and contextual factors, including dwelling type, location, and income. The findings on policy acceptability show that sufficiency-oriented measures can receive substantial support across several European countries.
Kiuru, V. (2026). Beyond individual choice in high-consumption societies: Definition of structural overconsumption: An application in the Finnish context [Master’s Thesis]. School of Energy Systems, Ympäristötekniikka. https://lutpub.lut.fi/handle/10024/171316
This master’s thesis defines, through a systematic literature review (n=25) and conceptual analysis, structural overconsumption. Structural overconsumption demonstrates that the overconsumption of affluent societies is not driven solely by individuals’ values and choices. Instead, global, and national societal, economic, built environment, and social structures push consumption toward overconsumption and maintain material-intensive consumption levels. Even when individuals’ values and intentions aim toward sustainable consumption, prevailing structures steer consumption toward overconsumption, making current consumption levels the default mode of consumption.
Boström, M., & Callmer, Å. (2025). Why and how lifestyle change to reduced consumption is an active part of the emerging sustainability transformation. Current Sociology, 00113921251381810. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921251381810
Despite growing attention, this theoretical article argues that there is, in science as well as policy, a lack of recognition of the problem of unsustainable volumes of consumption, and institutional failure to address radical lifestyle change. While there is broad consensus about the societal need to address consumption patterns, controversies remain about the need to address the volumes of consumption. The article takes this debate as a point of departure and focuses specifically on a tendency in critical consumption studies within sociology and related disciplines: the neglect of the larger transformative potential embedded in lifestyle change at the grassroot level. It contributes with six arguments for why it is necessary to consider individual lifestyle changes, and particularly consumption reduction, as an active part of the greater transformation needed to make our societies fit within the planetary boundaries.
Levelt, L., Chevrollier, N., & Argyrou, A. (2025). Regeneration, sufficiency and degrowth: An integrative review of organising in a strong sustainability era. Sustainability Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-025-01760-1
We examine the following question: How may degrowth, sufficiency and regeneration, three concepts in strongly sustainable organising, be integrated? We present an integrative review of 78 articles, focused on the organization-level, based on (1) Definitions, (2) Identified problem, (3) Principles, (4) Agents of change, and (5) Trade-offs. Our study reveals that the concepts share many commonalities, but whereas sufficiency and degrowth portray a capitalist critique and limits discourse, regeneration appears less unified. Further, we identify three tensions: Firstly, the use of research perspectives which do not match with strong sustainability (and corresponding risks of conceptual flexibility). Secondly, differentiated importance attributed to profit and ownership. Thirdly, the tension between ideal-type concepts and the broader economic context, which encompasses strategic considerations.
Bourban, M. (2025). Rethinking Climate Justice: Toward Ecological Limitarianism. Ethics, Policy & Environment, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/21550085.2025.2574219
This article argues that climate justice should be discussed from a limitarian perspective and that limitarianism should be extended from wealth limitarianism to ecological limitarianism. It shows how egalitarian and sufficientarian considerations on climate change mitigation can be combined with an ecological limitarian approach to climate justice. This approach is built on a distinction between an institutional level composed of carbon markets and sufficiency policies and an individual level composed of ecological citizenship and a sustainable carbon footprint. To develop individual limitarianism, the article draws on virtue ethics and frames carbon sobriety as a key green virtue of ecological citizens.
Book: SUFFICIENCY: From growth and overshoot to enoughness. (2025). BRILL. https://brill.com/display/title/73119
Due to the prevailing socio-economic inequality and differences in environmental impacts between individuals, organizations, and nations, we argue that the primary attention in mitigating the overshoot should be given to the factors of affluence and technology, and only after this we should address the difficult questions related to human population. In the search for a meaningful ethos to study and guide our inquiry in the world of growth and overshoot, we propose applying the concept of sufficiency: the idea of ‘enoughness’. Accordingly, in this book, we ask what sufficiency could mean for affluence, technology, and population.
This thesis addresses the main research question: How can sufficiency-oriented lifestyles contribute to climate change mitigation while safeguarding well-being and ensuring broad societal acceptance? The results demonstrate that sufficiency can be empirically and conceptually distinguished from deprivation. Individuals with higher sufficiency orientation had lower carbon footprints in the transport, food, and electricity domains, independent of income or deprivation. In contrast, energy conservation in the housing sector was often related to necessity rather than value-driven moderation. The analysis also found that well-being does not increase or decrease linearly with energy use; high and low energy consumers both reported relatively high life satisfaction. This suggests that low-impact lifestyles can support well-being but that their realisation depends strongly on material and contextual factors, including dwelling type, location, and income. The findings on policy acceptability show that sufficiency-oriented measures can receive substantial support across several European countries.
Kiuru, V. (2026). Beyond individual choice in high-consumption societies: Definition of structural overconsumption: An application in the Finnish context [Master’s Thesis]. School of Energy Systems, Ympäristötekniikka. https://lutpub.lut.fi/handle/10024/171316
This master’s thesis defines, through a systematic literature review (n=25) and conceptual analysis, structural overconsumption. Structural overconsumption demonstrates that the overconsumption of affluent societies is not driven solely by individuals’ values and choices. Instead, global, and national societal, economic, built environment, and social structures push consumption toward overconsumption and maintain material-intensive consumption levels. Even when individuals’ values and intentions aim toward sustainable consumption, prevailing structures steer consumption toward overconsumption, making current consumption levels the default mode of consumption.
Boström, M., & Callmer, Å. (2025). Why and how lifestyle change to reduced consumption is an active part of the emerging sustainability transformation. Current Sociology, 00113921251381810. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921251381810
Despite growing attention, this theoretical article argues that there is, in science as well as policy, a lack of recognition of the problem of unsustainable volumes of consumption, and institutional failure to address radical lifestyle change. While there is broad consensus about the societal need to address consumption patterns, controversies remain about the need to address the volumes of consumption. The article takes this debate as a point of departure and focuses specifically on a tendency in critical consumption studies within sociology and related disciplines: the neglect of the larger transformative potential embedded in lifestyle change at the grassroot level. It contributes with six arguments for why it is necessary to consider individual lifestyle changes, and particularly consumption reduction, as an active part of the greater transformation needed to make our societies fit within the planetary boundaries.
Levelt, L., Chevrollier, N., & Argyrou, A. (2025). Regeneration, sufficiency and degrowth: An integrative review of organising in a strong sustainability era. Sustainability Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-025-01760-1
We examine the following question: How may degrowth, sufficiency and regeneration, three concepts in strongly sustainable organising, be integrated? We present an integrative review of 78 articles, focused on the organization-level, based on (1) Definitions, (2) Identified problem, (3) Principles, (4) Agents of change, and (5) Trade-offs. Our study reveals that the concepts share many commonalities, but whereas sufficiency and degrowth portray a capitalist critique and limits discourse, regeneration appears less unified. Further, we identify three tensions: Firstly, the use of research perspectives which do not match with strong sustainability (and corresponding risks of conceptual flexibility). Secondly, differentiated importance attributed to profit and ownership. Thirdly, the tension between ideal-type concepts and the broader economic context, which encompasses strategic considerations.
Bourban, M. (2025). Rethinking Climate Justice: Toward Ecological Limitarianism. Ethics, Policy & Environment, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/21550085.2025.2574219
This article argues that climate justice should be discussed from a limitarian perspective and that limitarianism should be extended from wealth limitarianism to ecological limitarianism. It shows how egalitarian and sufficientarian considerations on climate change mitigation can be combined with an ecological limitarian approach to climate justice. This approach is built on a distinction between an institutional level composed of carbon markets and sufficiency policies and an individual level composed of ecological citizenship and a sustainable carbon footprint. To develop individual limitarianism, the article draws on virtue ethics and frames carbon sobriety as a key green virtue of ecological citizens.
Book: SUFFICIENCY: From growth and overshoot to enoughness. (2025). BRILL. https://brill.com/display/title/73119
Due to the prevailing socio-economic inequality and differences in environmental impacts between individuals, organizations, and nations, we argue that the primary attention in mitigating the overshoot should be given to the factors of affluence and technology, and only after this we should address the difficult questions related to human population. In the search for a meaningful ethos to study and guide our inquiry in the world of growth and overshoot, we propose applying the concept of sufficiency: the idea of ‘enoughness’. Accordingly, in this book, we ask what sufficiency could mean for affluence, technology, and population.
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MODELLING & INDICATORS
Schau, E. M., Golinucci, N., Beltrami, F., Rocco, M. V., Prina, M. G., Rinaldi, L., & Sparber, W. (2026). Impact of sufficiency on achieving the EU’s 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas emissions targets. Sustainable Futures, 11, 101791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2026.101791
This study assesses the GHG reduction potential of six energy sufficiency measures across five EU Member States—Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Latvia—and evaluates their contribution to narrowing policy-relevant emissions gaps in National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) trajectories. Using the MARIO (Macroeconomic Assessment of Resource Inputs-Outputs) framework, we apply a scenario-based modelling approach comparing sufficiency scenarios against both linear projections and the European Environment Agency’s “With Existing Measures” (WEM) baseline. Sufficiency measures, particularly dietary change and reduced aviation demand, show the highest mitigation potential. While sufficiency alone does not achieve net zero, it materially narrows the emissions gap relative to NECP trajectories, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors such as food systems and aviation.
Teixeira, A., & Vicard, F. (2026). Reducing GHG emissions and raw materials embodied in imports: Assessing a cross-sectoral sufficiency-oriented national climate strategy in France. Journal of Industrial Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44498-026-00016-0
European climate policies largely target territorial emissions, overlooking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and raw materials embodied in international trade. This study quantifies the potential and limitations of a sufficiency-oriented national strategy to reduce these impacts from a consumption-based perspective. Using the MatMat Environmentally Extended Input–Output (EEIO) model, we assess France’s transition pathways toward Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2050 under two scenarios: an Efficiency-driven (Eff.) and a Sufficiency-oriented (Suff.) one. Results show that sufficiency systematically outperforms efficiency by reducing both GHG emissions (−44% vs. −31%) and raw material extraction (−24% vs −4%). Housing, mobility, and food drive most reductions, while final services remain a persistent blind spot.
Beyer, S., & Koch, F. (2026). Reframing urban sustainability indicators: A sufficiency-oriented analysis of SDG 11 in European voluntary local reviews. Npj Urban Sustainability, 6(1), 52. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-026-00375-4
This article provides a critical analysis of the use of SDG 11 indicators in Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) across 30 European cities, with particular attention to their conceptual alignment with sufficiency approaches, which we extend to decommodification and democratization aspects. Drawing on a systematic evaluation of 384 VLR indicators, the study reveals considerable limitations in current monitoring practices, including pronounced selectivity, the absence of target values, and a neglect of key aspects for achieving sufficiency and a socio-ecological transformation.
Gulamhussein, A., O’Brien, W., & Azar, E. (2026). Homing in on sufficiency: Testing proposed criteria for measuring housing sufficiency. Energy and Buildings, 359, 117288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2026.117288
This paper presents a unique comparative analysis of sufficiency metrics through an application to the US housing stock. The Residential Energy Consumption Survey database was selected for its detailed information on individual homes, their residents, and their energy consumption. The first metric, based solely on floor area, finds 2.8% of homes to be sufficient and does not consider broader housing trends. This is restrictive, unrealistic and neglects nuances in housing like climate and individual needs. The second and third metrics, based on an individual’s energy consumption, find 58.3% and 78.8% of homes sufficient, but neglect the effect of floor area on the embodied carbon in construction and materials. The findings indicate that definitions and metrics to measure sufficient housing vary widely.
This study assesses the GHG reduction potential of six energy sufficiency measures across five EU Member States—Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Latvia—and evaluates their contribution to narrowing policy-relevant emissions gaps in National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) trajectories. Using the MARIO (Macroeconomic Assessment of Resource Inputs-Outputs) framework, we apply a scenario-based modelling approach comparing sufficiency scenarios against both linear projections and the European Environment Agency’s “With Existing Measures” (WEM) baseline. Sufficiency measures, particularly dietary change and reduced aviation demand, show the highest mitigation potential. While sufficiency alone does not achieve net zero, it materially narrows the emissions gap relative to NECP trajectories, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors such as food systems and aviation.
Teixeira, A., & Vicard, F. (2026). Reducing GHG emissions and raw materials embodied in imports: Assessing a cross-sectoral sufficiency-oriented national climate strategy in France. Journal of Industrial Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44498-026-00016-0
European climate policies largely target territorial emissions, overlooking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and raw materials embodied in international trade. This study quantifies the potential and limitations of a sufficiency-oriented national strategy to reduce these impacts from a consumption-based perspective. Using the MatMat Environmentally Extended Input–Output (EEIO) model, we assess France’s transition pathways toward Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2050 under two scenarios: an Efficiency-driven (Eff.) and a Sufficiency-oriented (Suff.) one. Results show that sufficiency systematically outperforms efficiency by reducing both GHG emissions (−44% vs. −31%) and raw material extraction (−24% vs −4%). Housing, mobility, and food drive most reductions, while final services remain a persistent blind spot.
Beyer, S., & Koch, F. (2026). Reframing urban sustainability indicators: A sufficiency-oriented analysis of SDG 11 in European voluntary local reviews. Npj Urban Sustainability, 6(1), 52. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-026-00375-4
This article provides a critical analysis of the use of SDG 11 indicators in Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) across 30 European cities, with particular attention to their conceptual alignment with sufficiency approaches, which we extend to decommodification and democratization aspects. Drawing on a systematic evaluation of 384 VLR indicators, the study reveals considerable limitations in current monitoring practices, including pronounced selectivity, the absence of target values, and a neglect of key aspects for achieving sufficiency and a socio-ecological transformation.
Gulamhussein, A., O’Brien, W., & Azar, E. (2026). Homing in on sufficiency: Testing proposed criteria for measuring housing sufficiency. Energy and Buildings, 359, 117288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2026.117288
This paper presents a unique comparative analysis of sufficiency metrics through an application to the US housing stock. The Residential Energy Consumption Survey database was selected for its detailed information on individual homes, their residents, and their energy consumption. The first metric, based solely on floor area, finds 2.8% of homes to be sufficient and does not consider broader housing trends. This is restrictive, unrealistic and neglects nuances in housing like climate and individual needs. The second and third metrics, based on an individual’s energy consumption, find 58.3% and 78.8% of homes sufficient, but neglect the effect of floor area on the embodied carbon in construction and materials. The findings indicate that definitions and metrics to measure sufficient housing vary widely.
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POLICIES
Grabow, S., Riepl, T., Thema, J., & Zell-Ziegler, C. (2026). Efficiency only? An analysis of avoid, shift and improve strategies in EU member states’ long-term mitigation policy. Energy Policy, 208, 114888. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114888
We scrutinise 1584 implemented, adopted, or planned mitigation policies across the sectors of agriculture, transport, energy consumption, and industry using qualitative content analyses. Our findings reveal substantial discrepancies in the distribution of mitigation strategies. Efficiency improvements dominate EU mitigation efforts, comprising 54 % of proposed measures. In contrast, policies promoting shifts to low-carbon alternatives represent only 14 %, while those avoiding energy or service demand make up just 2 %. Additionally, we find member states to rely predominantly on economic and regulatory policy instruments, with substantial variation across mitigation strategies and sectors. Our findings carry important policy implications, unveiling EU’s reliance on efficiency-centred approaches to achieve climate targets.
Brad, A., Schneider, E., Dorninger, C., Haas, W., Hirt, C., Wiedenhofer, D., & Gingrich, S. (2025). Existing demand-side climate change mitigation policies neglect avoid options. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), 773. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02800-5
Here, we provide a multilevel analysis of the evolution, composition, and foci of demand-side mitigation policy mixes in the transport and housing sector from 1995 to 2024, focusing on the EU, the federal Austrian level and two provincial levels (Vienna, Lower Austria). We find that existing policy mixes heavily rely on shift and improve measures, critically neglecting mitigation potentials of avoid options as well as certain policy areas. This suggests an urgent need to broaden demand-side policy mixes and explore strategies that increase the political feasibility of avoid options.
Guérineau, M., Mayer, J., Pedehour, P., & Poinet, L. (2026). Exploring social acceptability of energy sufficiency policies. Journal of Environmental Management, 402, 129104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.129104
This paper employs an exploratory study and Q-method analysis to investigate the acceptability of sufficiency policies. Three distinct sufficiency strategies are identified: monitored sufficiency, symbiotic sufficiency and governed sufficiency. Our study shows that, while sufficiency measures are conceived as overarching policy tools, their acceptance by populations is far from guaranteed. We demonstrate that the level of acceptability is dependent on a number of individual parameters, including the level of maturity with regard to sufficiency practices, or personal values. Moreover, while policies based on governed sufficiency are more widely accepted, radical measures associated with symbiotic sufficiency appear to face greater resistance.
Lindgren, O. (2025). Climate-motivated rationing: On the political feasibility of consumer-oriented climate policies [Doctoral thesis, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis]. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1999020&dswid=-8300
This thesis examines the political feasibility of climate policies that steer towards absolute consumption reductions, with a particular focus on public attitudes towards meat and fuel rationing. The study – using a variety of approaches, methods, and empirical data – paints a mixed picture of the possibility of introducing policies that limit individual consumption. On the one hand, absolute consumption reductions are given low priority in relation to technological development and increased efficiency in production in Swedish climate and energy policy. On the other hand, there is a significant variation in public attitudes towards rationing between individuals and countries. This thesis enhances our understanding of the political feasibility of stringent consumer-oriented climate policies.
Jerrari, F., & Leray, L. (2026). Energy sufficiency in law: A case study of French legislation. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2025.2610662
Energy sufficiency has become a key pillar of the energy transition. Yet it remains uncertain whether the existing legal framework is adequately suited to support this shift. France stands out as one of the countries where this issue has gained considerable traction in public debate. We thus examine how a state integrating energy sufficiency into its transition policy translates this ambition into legal and regulatory terms. We have developed an innovative and replicable methodology for assessing legal frameworks, introducing a novel approach to legal analysis in this field.
Iten, T., Seidl, I., & Pütz, M. (2025). Sufficiency Policy in Rural Municipalities: Measures, Enablers, and Barriers. Environmental Policy and Governance, eet.70027. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70027
To enable and promote sufficiency implementation with the necessary speed and scope, efforts at all policy levels are needed. This includes the municipal level, which has received relatively little attention from sufficiency scholarship thus far, and when it has, the rural context has been excluded. Taking Switzerland as an example, we conducted 46 semistructured expert interviews with decision‐makers from 46 rural municipalities and analyzed the data using qualitative content analysis. We identified and categorized 542 municipal sufficiency policy measures in various sectors, encompassing different types of sufficiency and policy measures. Most of these relate to the mobility sector and employ the instrument of public spending.
Geese, L., & Sullivan-Thomsett, C. (2026). High emissions, low engagement? How members of parliament represent the carbon footprint of their constituents. European Journal of Political Research, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1475676526100681
To date, little is known about the factors influencing politicians’ willingness to advocate for decarbonisation measures in the short-term for the long-term gain of climate change mitigation. This study draws on rare data of consumers’ carbon footprints, parliamentary speechmaking, and qualitative elite interviews in a mixed-methods research design to study how the intensity of constituents’ consumption-based carbon emissions influences the decarbonisation-focused behaviour of members of parliament (MPs) in the UK. Our quantitative findings reveal that MPs pay considerably less attention to decarbonisation issues when they represent carbon-intense constituencies. Moreover, this effect is particularly pronounced for Conservative MPs and amplified in marginal seats. Overall, our study draws a sobering picture of politicians’ willingness to sacrifice short-term electoral gains for the long-term prospect of net zero, especially for those MPs representing constituencies that could make high-impact contributions to nationwide emission cuts.
We scrutinise 1584 implemented, adopted, or planned mitigation policies across the sectors of agriculture, transport, energy consumption, and industry using qualitative content analyses. Our findings reveal substantial discrepancies in the distribution of mitigation strategies. Efficiency improvements dominate EU mitigation efforts, comprising 54 % of proposed measures. In contrast, policies promoting shifts to low-carbon alternatives represent only 14 %, while those avoiding energy or service demand make up just 2 %. Additionally, we find member states to rely predominantly on economic and regulatory policy instruments, with substantial variation across mitigation strategies and sectors. Our findings carry important policy implications, unveiling EU’s reliance on efficiency-centred approaches to achieve climate targets.
Brad, A., Schneider, E., Dorninger, C., Haas, W., Hirt, C., Wiedenhofer, D., & Gingrich, S. (2025). Existing demand-side climate change mitigation policies neglect avoid options. Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), 773. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02800-5
Here, we provide a multilevel analysis of the evolution, composition, and foci of demand-side mitigation policy mixes in the transport and housing sector from 1995 to 2024, focusing on the EU, the federal Austrian level and two provincial levels (Vienna, Lower Austria). We find that existing policy mixes heavily rely on shift and improve measures, critically neglecting mitigation potentials of avoid options as well as certain policy areas. This suggests an urgent need to broaden demand-side policy mixes and explore strategies that increase the political feasibility of avoid options.
Guérineau, M., Mayer, J., Pedehour, P., & Poinet, L. (2026). Exploring social acceptability of energy sufficiency policies. Journal of Environmental Management, 402, 129104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.129104
This paper employs an exploratory study and Q-method analysis to investigate the acceptability of sufficiency policies. Three distinct sufficiency strategies are identified: monitored sufficiency, symbiotic sufficiency and governed sufficiency. Our study shows that, while sufficiency measures are conceived as overarching policy tools, their acceptance by populations is far from guaranteed. We demonstrate that the level of acceptability is dependent on a number of individual parameters, including the level of maturity with regard to sufficiency practices, or personal values. Moreover, while policies based on governed sufficiency are more widely accepted, radical measures associated with symbiotic sufficiency appear to face greater resistance.
Lindgren, O. (2025). Climate-motivated rationing: On the political feasibility of consumer-oriented climate policies [Doctoral thesis, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis]. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1999020&dswid=-8300
This thesis examines the political feasibility of climate policies that steer towards absolute consumption reductions, with a particular focus on public attitudes towards meat and fuel rationing. The study – using a variety of approaches, methods, and empirical data – paints a mixed picture of the possibility of introducing policies that limit individual consumption. On the one hand, absolute consumption reductions are given low priority in relation to technological development and increased efficiency in production in Swedish climate and energy policy. On the other hand, there is a significant variation in public attitudes towards rationing between individuals and countries. This thesis enhances our understanding of the political feasibility of stringent consumer-oriented climate policies.
Jerrari, F., & Leray, L. (2026). Energy sufficiency in law: A case study of French legislation. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2025.2610662
Energy sufficiency has become a key pillar of the energy transition. Yet it remains uncertain whether the existing legal framework is adequately suited to support this shift. France stands out as one of the countries where this issue has gained considerable traction in public debate. We thus examine how a state integrating energy sufficiency into its transition policy translates this ambition into legal and regulatory terms. We have developed an innovative and replicable methodology for assessing legal frameworks, introducing a novel approach to legal analysis in this field.
Iten, T., Seidl, I., & Pütz, M. (2025). Sufficiency Policy in Rural Municipalities: Measures, Enablers, and Barriers. Environmental Policy and Governance, eet.70027. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70027
To enable and promote sufficiency implementation with the necessary speed and scope, efforts at all policy levels are needed. This includes the municipal level, which has received relatively little attention from sufficiency scholarship thus far, and when it has, the rural context has been excluded. Taking Switzerland as an example, we conducted 46 semistructured expert interviews with decision‐makers from 46 rural municipalities and analyzed the data using qualitative content analysis. We identified and categorized 542 municipal sufficiency policy measures in various sectors, encompassing different types of sufficiency and policy measures. Most of these relate to the mobility sector and employ the instrument of public spending.
Geese, L., & Sullivan-Thomsett, C. (2026). High emissions, low engagement? How members of parliament represent the carbon footprint of their constituents. European Journal of Political Research, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1475676526100681
To date, little is known about the factors influencing politicians’ willingness to advocate for decarbonisation measures in the short-term for the long-term gain of climate change mitigation. This study draws on rare data of consumers’ carbon footprints, parliamentary speechmaking, and qualitative elite interviews in a mixed-methods research design to study how the intensity of constituents’ consumption-based carbon emissions influences the decarbonisation-focused behaviour of members of parliament (MPs) in the UK. Our quantitative findings reveal that MPs pay considerably less attention to decarbonisation issues when they represent carbon-intense constituencies. Moreover, this effect is particularly pronounced for Conservative MPs and amplified in marginal seats. Overall, our study draws a sobering picture of politicians’ willingness to sacrifice short-term electoral gains for the long-term prospect of net zero, especially for those MPs representing constituencies that could make high-impact contributions to nationwide emission cuts.
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AWARENESS RAISING
Amri-Henkel, A., Zheng, Y., Holzhausen, G., Zeck, B., Dauwe, S., Horst, J., Noll, F., & Uhlig, I. (2025). The appeal of the good life: Strategies for communicating sufficiency practices and policies. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 21(1), 2592390. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2025.2592390
This article examines how sufficiency, an approach to sustainability focused on reducing resource consumption, can be communicated as a pathway to a good life rather than a call to sacrifice. Based on a representative survey in Germany, the findings show that although the term “sufficiency” is unfamiliar to many people, core values such as health, financial security, and social connection offer promising entry points for communication. This article advocates a constructivist, power-sensitive communication approach that links sufficiency to everyday needs, social justice, and enabling policy frameworks, reframing it not as an individual sacrifice but as a collective right and a foundation for more livable, equitable futures.
Asayama, S., Fujimori, S., Oshiro, K., Hasegawa, T., Shiraki, H., & Sugiyama, M. (2025). Public understanding of net zero: Conflicted perceptions of different mitigation pathways between feasibility and desirability. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7379576/v1
This study investigates how people perceive (1) the attainability and necessity of the 2050 net-zero target and (2) the feasibility and desirability of three illustrative net-zero pathways: carbon dioxide removal (CDR), low energy demand (LED), and carbon capture utilization (CCU). Through deliberative focus groups with ordinary people in Japan, we found that people view net zero as an unrealistic yet necessary benchmark, reflecting ambivalence toward its symbolic value as a policy target. We also found conflicting views on three net-zero scenarios, swinging widely between feasibility (‘what is possible’) and desirability (‘what is good’). The study highlights tensions between feasibility and desirability in people’s minds, underscoring conflicted preferences for policy choices.
This article examines how sufficiency, an approach to sustainability focused on reducing resource consumption, can be communicated as a pathway to a good life rather than a call to sacrifice. Based on a representative survey in Germany, the findings show that although the term “sufficiency” is unfamiliar to many people, core values such as health, financial security, and social connection offer promising entry points for communication. This article advocates a constructivist, power-sensitive communication approach that links sufficiency to everyday needs, social justice, and enabling policy frameworks, reframing it not as an individual sacrifice but as a collective right and a foundation for more livable, equitable futures.
Asayama, S., Fujimori, S., Oshiro, K., Hasegawa, T., Shiraki, H., & Sugiyama, M. (2025). Public understanding of net zero: Conflicted perceptions of different mitigation pathways between feasibility and desirability. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7379576/v1
This study investigates how people perceive (1) the attainability and necessity of the 2050 net-zero target and (2) the feasibility and desirability of three illustrative net-zero pathways: carbon dioxide removal (CDR), low energy demand (LED), and carbon capture utilization (CCU). Through deliberative focus groups with ordinary people in Japan, we found that people view net zero as an unrealistic yet necessary benchmark, reflecting ambivalence toward its symbolic value as a policy target. We also found conflicting views on three net-zero scenarios, swinging widely between feasibility (‘what is possible’) and desirability (‘what is good’). The study highlights tensions between feasibility and desirability in people’s minds, underscoring conflicted preferences for policy choices.
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BUILDINGS
Fischer, A., & Arnold, M. G. (2026). Beyond Efficiency: Sufficiency Strategies for Sustainable Development in the Housing and Building Sectors. Sustainable Development, sd.71050. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.71050
This study explores how sufficiency can reshape the housing landscape, although there is no standardized understanding of sufficiency in these sectors. Through a systematic literature review and supported by qualitative expert interviews with tiny house manufacturers, the research identifies 26 categories of sufficiency measures across the key five value chain stages, from planning and construction to user behavior and policy frameworks. The findings show that sufficiency operates as a cross‐cutting transformation strategy that reshapes how housing is planned, built, managed, and used within the broader building sector, thereby enabling structural reductions in resource demand beyond technological efficiency alone.
Batra, Z., Sommer, T., Jusselme, T., & Orehounig, K. (2025). Exploring the potential of sufficiency scenarios to reach Net-Zero buildings in Swiss municipalities. Energy and Buildings, 116727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.116727
The absence of defined resource consumption boundaries within the building sector for existing buildings presents a significant challenge not only in Switzerland but globally. This study investigates the implementation of sufficiency principles within the Swiss building sector offering insights highly relevant to the broader European context as a potential mitigation strategy, as also recognised by the IPCC. The impact of various sufficiency and efficiency measures (e.g. promote shared living, renovation of building envelope) is quantitatively evaluated through different scenarios. The findings indicate that while sufficiency and efficiency measures applied in isolation result in only modest emission reductions, a strategically targeted combination of space demand reduction and renovation offers significant potential to lower both operational and embodied emissions helping to close the CO2 gap and reduce reliance on the uncertain future development of carbon removal and renewable energy technologies.
Hein, S., & Kuhnimhof, T. (2025). Compensating for limited private living space through outsourcing of activities? Panel data analysis of the link between living space and spatial behaviour. Sustainable Cities and Society, 106991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2025.106991
The concept of housing sufficiency refers to approaches that mitigate living space consumption while ensuring decent housing conditions for everyone. This study investigated, whether there is empiric evidence supporting the idea that residents compensate for limited private living space through outsourcing activities, which could be utilised by sufficiency strategies to encourage downsizings. We examined the link between size of living space and out-of-home activity participation using eating and drinking out (EDO) as an example. Applying dynamic panel data modelling on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel, our results show, that below a threshold of 25 m2 of living space (equivalised based on OECD modified scale) downsizings correspond with increases in EDO frequency.
Morley, J. (2026). Energy sufficiency, space temperature and public policy. Buildings and Cities, 7(1), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.653
This paper explores how indoor air temperatures, as an aspect of heating and cooling demand, might be addressed. Drawing on prior reviews, it argues that sufficiency as policymaking can be distinguished from more common interpretations of sufficiency as voluntary individual-level self-moderation or post-growth socio-economic transformation or even the direct imposition of legal consumption limits. Policies could instead be oriented towards the ‘framework conditions’ that shape social practices. Moreover, common ways of articulating temperature objectives, such as limits or averages, do not reflect the distributional concern that is distinctive of a sufficiency approach. By integrating insights from social practices literature, the paper outlines how a staged thermal energy sufficiency strategy might proceed through a combination of broad guideline temperature ranges and ‘shift and improve’ objectives for lower energy practice configurations.
Adepoju Adeyemi et al. (2025). Energy Conservation Behaviour and Sufficiency among University Hostel Students: An exploratory study. Global Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainability, 2(2), 37–58. https://doi.org/10.69798/92924777
This study investigated the behavioural dimensions of students’ energy use in university hostels, focusing on the effects of psychological, socio-economic, and contextual determinants on energy conservation behaviour, as well as the mediating role of such behaviour in achieving energy sufficiency. The findings show that the explanatory variables collectively explain a substantial proportion of variance in energy conservation behaviour. Socio-economic factors exerted a strong and statistically significant positive influence on students’ energy conservation behaviour, whereas internal psychological and contextual factors were not significant predictors. Gender significantly influenced energy conservation behaviour, while age did not.
This study explores how sufficiency can reshape the housing landscape, although there is no standardized understanding of sufficiency in these sectors. Through a systematic literature review and supported by qualitative expert interviews with tiny house manufacturers, the research identifies 26 categories of sufficiency measures across the key five value chain stages, from planning and construction to user behavior and policy frameworks. The findings show that sufficiency operates as a cross‐cutting transformation strategy that reshapes how housing is planned, built, managed, and used within the broader building sector, thereby enabling structural reductions in resource demand beyond technological efficiency alone.
Batra, Z., Sommer, T., Jusselme, T., & Orehounig, K. (2025). Exploring the potential of sufficiency scenarios to reach Net-Zero buildings in Swiss municipalities. Energy and Buildings, 116727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.116727
The absence of defined resource consumption boundaries within the building sector for existing buildings presents a significant challenge not only in Switzerland but globally. This study investigates the implementation of sufficiency principles within the Swiss building sector offering insights highly relevant to the broader European context as a potential mitigation strategy, as also recognised by the IPCC. The impact of various sufficiency and efficiency measures (e.g. promote shared living, renovation of building envelope) is quantitatively evaluated through different scenarios. The findings indicate that while sufficiency and efficiency measures applied in isolation result in only modest emission reductions, a strategically targeted combination of space demand reduction and renovation offers significant potential to lower both operational and embodied emissions helping to close the CO2 gap and reduce reliance on the uncertain future development of carbon removal and renewable energy technologies.
Hein, S., & Kuhnimhof, T. (2025). Compensating for limited private living space through outsourcing of activities? Panel data analysis of the link between living space and spatial behaviour. Sustainable Cities and Society, 106991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2025.106991
The concept of housing sufficiency refers to approaches that mitigate living space consumption while ensuring decent housing conditions for everyone. This study investigated, whether there is empiric evidence supporting the idea that residents compensate for limited private living space through outsourcing activities, which could be utilised by sufficiency strategies to encourage downsizings. We examined the link between size of living space and out-of-home activity participation using eating and drinking out (EDO) as an example. Applying dynamic panel data modelling on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel, our results show, that below a threshold of 25 m2 of living space (equivalised based on OECD modified scale) downsizings correspond with increases in EDO frequency.
Morley, J. (2026). Energy sufficiency, space temperature and public policy. Buildings and Cities, 7(1), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.653
This paper explores how indoor air temperatures, as an aspect of heating and cooling demand, might be addressed. Drawing on prior reviews, it argues that sufficiency as policymaking can be distinguished from more common interpretations of sufficiency as voluntary individual-level self-moderation or post-growth socio-economic transformation or even the direct imposition of legal consumption limits. Policies could instead be oriented towards the ‘framework conditions’ that shape social practices. Moreover, common ways of articulating temperature objectives, such as limits or averages, do not reflect the distributional concern that is distinctive of a sufficiency approach. By integrating insights from social practices literature, the paper outlines how a staged thermal energy sufficiency strategy might proceed through a combination of broad guideline temperature ranges and ‘shift and improve’ objectives for lower energy practice configurations.
Adepoju Adeyemi et al. (2025). Energy Conservation Behaviour and Sufficiency among University Hostel Students: An exploratory study. Global Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainability, 2(2), 37–58. https://doi.org/10.69798/92924777
This study investigated the behavioural dimensions of students’ energy use in university hostels, focusing on the effects of psychological, socio-economic, and contextual determinants on energy conservation behaviour, as well as the mediating role of such behaviour in achieving energy sufficiency. The findings show that the explanatory variables collectively explain a substantial proportion of variance in energy conservation behaviour. Socio-economic factors exerted a strong and statistically significant positive influence on students’ energy conservation behaviour, whereas internal psychological and contextual factors were not significant predictors. Gender significantly influenced energy conservation behaviour, while age did not.
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URBAN PLANNING & MOBILITY
Stuhlfauth, V., Saheb, Y., & Bouzouina, L. (2026). Mapping Mobility Sufficiency Across Planetary Boundaries and Wellbeing for All: Findings from 18,000 Studies. Environmental Research Communications. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ae4563
This study provides the first large-scale, evidence-based mapping of mobility sufficiency policies by combining machine-learning techniques with qualitative, in-depth policy analysis. Using this mixed-methods approach, policies are classified into three categories - Sufficiency, Potential Sufficiency, and Not Sufficiency - based on their alignment with both limits of the sufficiency corridor: planetary boundaries and wellbeing for all. The findings underscore that sufficiency transitions depend primarily on structural transformations of urban form and accessibility rather than behavioural or technological fixes alone. Methodologically, this work demonstrates how machine learning and qualitative analysis can be integrated to systematically map sufficiency across large research corpora.
Dunkel, E., Käyhkö, J., Grêt-Regamey, A., & Raymond, C. M. (2026). Integrating sufficiency-oriented lifestyles and socio-political acceptance of land-use changes in urban sustainability transformations. Landscape and Urban Planning, 265, 105502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2025.105502
Despite increased interest in sufficiency, little research has examined how residents’ acceptance of more sustainable land-uses varies across lifestyles with different levels of sufficiency orientation. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationships between urban lifestyles and socio-political acceptance of land-use changes, including willingness to give up carbon-intensive mobility and housing practices across cities and neighbourhoods in southern Finland. We found that sufficiency-oriented residents often prefer walking and public transport, and they are more likely to accept various land-use changes in support of sustainability outcomes in urban areas. We also found locational differences in the relationships between socio-political acceptance of land use change and lifestyle clusters.
Gödde, P. (2025). Five mechanisms for advancing sufficiency policies [Master’s thesis, Utrecht University]. https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/50419
Sufficiency policies are necessary for redistributing housing space to better match needs for adequate housing while reducing ecological impacts. Proposals for policies abound but adoption of far-reaching policies remain scarce. Powerful coalitions of actors with interests in the continued growth of consumption and production levels regularly oppose sufficiency policies. The study presents a comparative case study of two German urban housing policy processes with decisions for sufficiency policies: the redevelopment of the industrial port Hafen-Ost in Flensburg, and the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen campaign to socialize the assets of large housing companies in Berlin. Based on the advocacy coalition framework and process tracing methods, the study proposes five mechanisms to understand how actors support or oppose sufficiency policies in urban housing policy processes: (1) creating support, (2) (de)legitimizing, (3) weakening opposition, (4) delaying the process, and (5) pursuing anchoring decisions.
Huang, R., & Shaw, R. (2025). Accessing the opportunities and challenges of living the 1.5-degree lifestyles in urban and rural areas. SN Social Sciences, 5(10), 171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-025-01207-5
The 1.5-degree lifestyle favours green lifestyles, and most people are not in line with the standard, which requires great efforts from the public to change their lifestyles. Changing lifestyles could be extremely challenging depending on the environment in which they live. With the acceleration of urbanization, the difference between urban and rural areas is increasing. The focus of this article is 1.5-degree lifestyles in urban and rural areas. The paper concludes that the main factors driving the 1.5-degree lifestyle gap are the level of urbanisation, population density, food, mobility, housing, education, the economy, digitalization and administrative efficiency. These factors, in turn, lead to different challenges and opportunities in urban and rural areas.
This study provides the first large-scale, evidence-based mapping of mobility sufficiency policies by combining machine-learning techniques with qualitative, in-depth policy analysis. Using this mixed-methods approach, policies are classified into three categories - Sufficiency, Potential Sufficiency, and Not Sufficiency - based on their alignment with both limits of the sufficiency corridor: planetary boundaries and wellbeing for all. The findings underscore that sufficiency transitions depend primarily on structural transformations of urban form and accessibility rather than behavioural or technological fixes alone. Methodologically, this work demonstrates how machine learning and qualitative analysis can be integrated to systematically map sufficiency across large research corpora.
Dunkel, E., Käyhkö, J., Grêt-Regamey, A., & Raymond, C. M. (2026). Integrating sufficiency-oriented lifestyles and socio-political acceptance of land-use changes in urban sustainability transformations. Landscape and Urban Planning, 265, 105502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2025.105502
Despite increased interest in sufficiency, little research has examined how residents’ acceptance of more sustainable land-uses varies across lifestyles with different levels of sufficiency orientation. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationships between urban lifestyles and socio-political acceptance of land-use changes, including willingness to give up carbon-intensive mobility and housing practices across cities and neighbourhoods in southern Finland. We found that sufficiency-oriented residents often prefer walking and public transport, and they are more likely to accept various land-use changes in support of sustainability outcomes in urban areas. We also found locational differences in the relationships between socio-political acceptance of land use change and lifestyle clusters.
Gödde, P. (2025). Five mechanisms for advancing sufficiency policies [Master’s thesis, Utrecht University]. https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/50419
Sufficiency policies are necessary for redistributing housing space to better match needs for adequate housing while reducing ecological impacts. Proposals for policies abound but adoption of far-reaching policies remain scarce. Powerful coalitions of actors with interests in the continued growth of consumption and production levels regularly oppose sufficiency policies. The study presents a comparative case study of two German urban housing policy processes with decisions for sufficiency policies: the redevelopment of the industrial port Hafen-Ost in Flensburg, and the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen campaign to socialize the assets of large housing companies in Berlin. Based on the advocacy coalition framework and process tracing methods, the study proposes five mechanisms to understand how actors support or oppose sufficiency policies in urban housing policy processes: (1) creating support, (2) (de)legitimizing, (3) weakening opposition, (4) delaying the process, and (5) pursuing anchoring decisions.
Huang, R., & Shaw, R. (2025). Accessing the opportunities and challenges of living the 1.5-degree lifestyles in urban and rural areas. SN Social Sciences, 5(10), 171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-025-01207-5
The 1.5-degree lifestyle favours green lifestyles, and most people are not in line with the standard, which requires great efforts from the public to change their lifestyles. Changing lifestyles could be extremely challenging depending on the environment in which they live. With the acceleration of urbanization, the difference between urban and rural areas is increasing. The focus of this article is 1.5-degree lifestyles in urban and rural areas. The paper concludes that the main factors driving the 1.5-degree lifestyle gap are the level of urbanisation, population density, food, mobility, housing, education, the economy, digitalization and administrative efficiency. These factors, in turn, lead to different challenges and opportunities in urban and rural areas.
🏭️
BUSINESSES
Riefler, P., Gossen, M., & Garaus, C. (2025). Sufficiency Orientation in Global Marketing. In K. Hewett & Y. Strizhakova (Eds), Global Marketing in Times of Disruption (1st edn, pp. 93–108). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1548-643520250000022017
Global ecological disruptions require disruptive global marketing strategies. A sufficiency orientation depicts such a disruptive strategy, which implies a fundamental change in global business models, marketing, and consumer lifestyles. This article aims to induce academic and managerial debate on how sufficiency strategies may be successfully implemented in global marketing strategies.
Santos, T. V. D., Alvez, S. M. D., Sehnem, S., & Julkovski, D. J. (2025). The Circularity Paradox: The Rebound Effect, Governance, and the Limits of Corporate Sustainability. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, csr.70181. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.70181
This study fills a relevant gap by analyzing, through a systematic review, how contemporary literature discusses the rebound effect (RE) in circular strategies between 2015 and 2025. The main results indicate that the RE is present in several circular strategies—such as reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and rental models—and manifests itself through direct, indirect, psychological, and systemic mechanisms. The literature also points out that technological innovations, when devoid of regulation and sufficiency criteria, tend to legitimize overconsumption. Overcoming this paradox requires the articulation of robust governance, education for sufficiency, inclusive innovation, and specific metrics to monitor rebounds.
Vaal, A., & Leroy, C. (2026). Brands and sufficiency: Polysemic representations of brand sufficiency in business schools. Décisions Marketing, n° 120(4), 313–332. https://doi.org/10.3917/e.dm.120.0313
Distinct from efficiency, sufficiency involves reducing production and consumption. In this respect, it runs counter to the consumerist culture that characterizes our modern societies. However, few studies empirically examine the representations of sufficiency. Some research deals with representations of concepts related to sufficiency, such as sustainable consumption or degrowth, while other studies point to the difficulties encountered by consumers committed to sufficiency. Sufficiency is a major challenge for brand management.
Da Silva Wagner, I., & Ebersberger, B. (2026). Innovation for Sufficiency: How Businesses Support a Disruptive Consumption Strategy. Creativity and Innovation Management, caim.70062. https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.70062
Sufficiency constitutes an emerging sustainability strategy for businesses that focuses on the absolute reduction of inputs and consumption levels to restrict resource use. Although sufficiency strategies and business models have been explored, the link to innovation is missing. We review the literature on sufficiency and innovation to create an Innovation for Sufficiency framework that contributes twofold. First, we propose sufficiency‐oriented innovation varieties that guide businesses in engaging in sufficiency practices along themes of circularity, product lifecycles, service provision, consumer engagement, and communication. Second, the framework indicates how these innovations direct consumers’ consumption behavior toward sufficiency.
Global ecological disruptions require disruptive global marketing strategies. A sufficiency orientation depicts such a disruptive strategy, which implies a fundamental change in global business models, marketing, and consumer lifestyles. This article aims to induce academic and managerial debate on how sufficiency strategies may be successfully implemented in global marketing strategies.
Santos, T. V. D., Alvez, S. M. D., Sehnem, S., & Julkovski, D. J. (2025). The Circularity Paradox: The Rebound Effect, Governance, and the Limits of Corporate Sustainability. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, csr.70181. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.70181
This study fills a relevant gap by analyzing, through a systematic review, how contemporary literature discusses the rebound effect (RE) in circular strategies between 2015 and 2025. The main results indicate that the RE is present in several circular strategies—such as reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, and rental models—and manifests itself through direct, indirect, psychological, and systemic mechanisms. The literature also points out that technological innovations, when devoid of regulation and sufficiency criteria, tend to legitimize overconsumption. Overcoming this paradox requires the articulation of robust governance, education for sufficiency, inclusive innovation, and specific metrics to monitor rebounds.
Vaal, A., & Leroy, C. (2026). Brands and sufficiency: Polysemic representations of brand sufficiency in business schools. Décisions Marketing, n° 120(4), 313–332. https://doi.org/10.3917/e.dm.120.0313
Distinct from efficiency, sufficiency involves reducing production and consumption. In this respect, it runs counter to the consumerist culture that characterizes our modern societies. However, few studies empirically examine the representations of sufficiency. Some research deals with representations of concepts related to sufficiency, such as sustainable consumption or degrowth, while other studies point to the difficulties encountered by consumers committed to sufficiency. Sufficiency is a major challenge for brand management.
Da Silva Wagner, I., & Ebersberger, B. (2026). Innovation for Sufficiency: How Businesses Support a Disruptive Consumption Strategy. Creativity and Innovation Management, caim.70062. https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.70062
Sufficiency constitutes an emerging sustainability strategy for businesses that focuses on the absolute reduction of inputs and consumption levels to restrict resource use. Although sufficiency strategies and business models have been explored, the link to innovation is missing. We review the literature on sufficiency and innovation to create an Innovation for Sufficiency framework that contributes twofold. First, we propose sufficiency‐oriented innovation varieties that guide businesses in engaging in sufficiency practices along themes of circularity, product lifecycles, service provision, consumer engagement, and communication. Second, the framework indicates how these innovations direct consumers’ consumption behavior toward sufficiency.
🔌
OTHER PRACTICES
Jouzi, F., Levänen, J., Mikkilä, M., & Linnanen, L. (2026). Decoupling wellbeing from consumption: Exploring quality time as a satisfier of human needs for sustainable living. Sustainability Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-026-01822-y
This study explores the potential of low-emission quality time as a satisfier of human needs, using Max-Neef’s Human Scale Development model and examining the findings through the lens of sufficiency and sustainability. We address two key questions: (1) What is the potential of quality time, including low-emission and accessible experiences, to satisfy human needs? (2) How do individuals experience quality time in relation to the satisfaction of their needs? Through in-depth interviews, we investigate how individuals’ experiences of quality time meet their needs from two perspectives. Our findings indicate that low-material- and low-energy-intensive forms of quality time, such as spending time with family and friends, engaging in physical activity, and being in nature, can satisfy a wide range of human needs.
Bodelier, M., Klösters, M., Schlindwein, L., Van Empelen, P., & Stokking, H. (2025). How to stream sustainably; investigating avenues for sufficient use practices in Dutch households. Proceedings of the 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3750069.3750320
We explore the paradigm of digital sufficiency by investigating how video streaming practices in Dutch households can be changed in favour of energy demand. Using a mixed methods approach with various data collection methods (data logging via routers, daily experience sampling surveys, and semi-structured interviews), we provide insights on three major themes: motivations for streaming and reducing, social influences thereon and users’ agency to control this behaviour. Our findings show how users can be empowered to consume audiovisual media more sufficiently by algorithms that better support them in deciding what to watch and for how long.
Marques David, L. M. (2025). Assessing Energy Sufficiency Measures: User Perception and Experimental Validation [Master’s degree]. UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA. https://repositorio.ulisboa.pt/bitstreams/d67d0261-d31b-4c16-acf0-3fb025108732/download
This study explores energy sufficiency (ES) in the residential sector, combining an analysis of good practice guides with a survey and experimental monitoring. The measurements focused on quantifying the impact of changes in washing cycles in washing machines and dishwashers and on the temperature setpoint of water heaters. From the guides analysis, it was found that the measures presented in them tend to converge around the same set of measures and are repeated in most documents. The survey responses showed that many of these measures are already being adopted by users, indicating a general awareness, and acceptance of ES measures. Overall, these findings demonstrate that making even minor adjustments in appliance usage can lead to meaningful energy savings.
This study explores the potential of low-emission quality time as a satisfier of human needs, using Max-Neef’s Human Scale Development model and examining the findings through the lens of sufficiency and sustainability. We address two key questions: (1) What is the potential of quality time, including low-emission and accessible experiences, to satisfy human needs? (2) How do individuals experience quality time in relation to the satisfaction of their needs? Through in-depth interviews, we investigate how individuals’ experiences of quality time meet their needs from two perspectives. Our findings indicate that low-material- and low-energy-intensive forms of quality time, such as spending time with family and friends, engaging in physical activity, and being in nature, can satisfy a wide range of human needs.
Bodelier, M., Klösters, M., Schlindwein, L., Van Empelen, P., & Stokking, H. (2025). How to stream sustainably; investigating avenues for sufficient use practices in Dutch households. Proceedings of the 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3750069.3750320
We explore the paradigm of digital sufficiency by investigating how video streaming practices in Dutch households can be changed in favour of energy demand. Using a mixed methods approach with various data collection methods (data logging via routers, daily experience sampling surveys, and semi-structured interviews), we provide insights on three major themes: motivations for streaming and reducing, social influences thereon and users’ agency to control this behaviour. Our findings show how users can be empowered to consume audiovisual media more sufficiently by algorithms that better support them in deciding what to watch and for how long.
Marques David, L. M. (2025). Assessing Energy Sufficiency Measures: User Perception and Experimental Validation [Master’s degree]. UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA. https://repositorio.ulisboa.pt/bitstreams/d67d0261-d31b-4c16-acf0-3fb025108732/download
This study explores energy sufficiency (ES) in the residential sector, combining an analysis of good practice guides with a survey and experimental monitoring. The measurements focused on quantifying the impact of changes in washing cycles in washing machines and dishwashers and on the temperature setpoint of water heaters. From the guides analysis, it was found that the measures presented in them tend to converge around the same set of measures and are repeated in most documents. The survey responses showed that many of these measures are already being adopted by users, indicating a general awareness, and acceptance of ES measures. Overall, these findings demonstrate that making even minor adjustments in appliance usage can lead to meaningful energy savings.